SHENZHEN -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday both sent congratulatory messages to celebrate the inaugural semester of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, the first joint Sino-Russian university.

Xi said that education is a major impetus for the development of a country and a key bond to promote exchanges between different peoples.

There has been close contacts between universities from both countries in recent years, as China and Russia have undertaken in-depth cooperation in education, said Xi, adding that the cooperation has played a positive role in promoting mutual understanding between the two peoples as well as the development of the Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

"Under an agreement reached by President Putin and I, the establishment of Sino-Russian Shenzhen MSU-BIT University is an important achievement in bilateral cultural and people-to-people exchanges and is of great demonstration significance," said Xi in the message.

He encouraged education officials and teachers from both countries to look to each other's advantages and the potential for cooperation to speed up the future development of the university, build a high-level university and train top-quality talent, thus contributing to Sino-Russian educational cooperation and bilateral friendship.

Calling educational cooperation a key component of the Russia-China strategic partnership, Putin said in his message that direct contact between universities in both countries has expanded year by year; the scale of student exchanges has been improved and high school students from both countries have formed a tradition to have holiday in the other country's national resorts.

He said he believes that the Russia-China university, founded on the basis of two well-known universities from Beijing and Moscow, will further enhance friendship and understanding between the two peoples and that graduates from the university will become sought after in Russia, China and around the world.

Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, located in the south China city of Shenzhen, is a university jointly founded by the Shenzhen municipal government, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and Russia's Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU).